A Pakistani restaurant has become one of the latest to leave the struggling San Francisco Centre mall, where dwindling visitors and major store departures have left the 1.5 million-square-foot mall practically vacant.
Mashaallah Halal Pakistani Food, run by owners Mohammad and Rabia Waqar, shut its doors after three years in the food court, joining Sarku Japan, which departed on Sept. 25, and Charley’s Philly Steaks, which is set to close this week. The moves leave just two restaurants—Panda Express and Shake Shack—in the once bustling mall’s food court.
The property faces a foreclosure auction on Oct. 2 after owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) defaulted and handed control to a receiver. Waqar learned of the full shutdown plans only recently, after he had already signed a lease at a nearby location as part of his restaurant’s expansion.
“Things happen for a reason. Nothing is forever,” Mohammad Waqar told The Epoch Times on Sept. 29. “This was the end of the era, and it was time to move on. And we did, and we are moving on on Thursday.”
Mashaallah’s new location at 315 Fifth St. in San Francisco will open on Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. to continue serving authentic Pakistani dishes.
The San Francisco Centre, the city’s biggest mall, was valued at $195 million this month, down 25 percent from August 2024 and $1 billion less than its 2016 valuation, according to research firm Morningstar.
It now stands about 93 percent empty after major retailers such as Nordstrom shuttered in 2023 after 35 years, sparking a chain of exits. Foot traffic has plunged, hurting smaller operations reliant on shoppers.
“First of all, Nordstrom leaving, and all the brand names leaving, and then the six-story building, in front of our eyes, it just became empty,” Waqar said.
“And, of course, the mall is based on the shopping so the food court was based on the shoppers, so somebody would especially have to come to the food court area to eat food without any reason.”
High lease costs and strict mall policies added pressure, though Waqar declined to share specifics. Despite challenges, he expressed no regrets, viewing the shift as progress.
The mall’s owner at the time, URW, cited crime as a major reason that retailers had boarded up and customers stopped shopping.
“A growing number of retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area,” a spokesperson for URW said in a statement to media outlets in 2023.
Waqar, in the food sector since 1987, lost an earlier venture during economic troubles after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but rebounded with a food truck in 2018 before opening his restaurant at the mall.
The mall’s woes reflect wider issues in the city’s core, where reduced tourism and office attendance have turned once-lively areas quiet. As the auction nears, remaining tenants brace for changes.
“We’re just welcoming the community,” Waqar said of the new site. “And you know, the same thing we’re gonna do here, but we did the previous years. So we are inviting and welcoming people to come and check us out and support our business.”
